The 2019 season of the FIA-certified PlayStation 4 Gran Turismo Championships kicks off this weekend with the first World Tour event in Paris.

Polyphony Digital is a subsidiary of Sony, the makers of the PlayStation 4, and publishes the Gran Turismo game series.

Its CEO Kazunori Yamauchi announced that Paris is the start of a World Tour consisting of five separate events which lead into the World Finals in November.

This weekend 2018 Nations Cup champion Igor Fraga and the Manufacturer Series-winning team Lexus return to start the defence of their respective championships, won at the inaugural World Finals event in Monaco last November.

On Saturday at 5pm UK time the Manufacturer Series will take place.

In the first three races of four, one driver from each team will race for five laps with no driver swaps taking place.

Points will be awarded for each race, with 12 points given to the victor down to one point for 10th.

The Manufacturer Series will conclude with a double points race around GT Sport's Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, with two driver swaps and the use of each of the three tyre compounds mandatory.

The manufacturer with the highest points total after the four races will claim the overall victory.

At 1pm UK time on Sunday the Nations Cup races will begin.

There will be two semi-final races with the top four from each race heading straight to the final.

Competitors that finish fifth through to 10th will get a chance to take one of the four spots left for the Nations Cup Final in what is known as the Repechage race.

The Nations Cup final will be a 16 lap race on the Autopolis circuit.

The class of car to be used will be revealed before the race.

You can watch the FIA GT Championships World Tour event this weekend and find out more information here.

The remaining World Tour events will take place at the Nurburgring 24 Hour, New York, the Red Bull Hangar in Austria and the Tokyo Game Show.

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